This invention relates to improvements in hand wrappings to protect the hands of athletes in sports such as boxing football and the like where danger of injury to the hands is present.
The use of some form of hand covering is a common expedient in many sports such as the well known full or partial gloves in baseball, tennis ang golf to facilitate gripping of the bat, racquet or club, wrapping gymnasts, U.S. Pat. No. 3,381,304 to aid in gripping the bars and protection against friction burns and coverings for protection of the hands against injury from contact inherent in the nature of the sport such as boxing and football. It is in the latter area for which the present invention is more particularly designed.
In boxing, the danger of injury to the hands, wrist and knuckles is, of course, obvious and thus it is customary for boxers to use some form of hand protection both for training and in actual contests. One type of a training glove-like covering is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,706,503 and a more common type of covering or wrap used both for training and worn under the actual boxing gloves is a long strip of flexible twill material having a single thumb loop at one end from which the remaining length is wrapped around the hand, knuckles and wrist and finally secured at the wrist by tie strings. Despite the widespread use of this latter wrapping, it has a tendency to slip and slide, to have an abrasive effect on the skin at times and in general, to not be entirely satisfactory for the full protection desired. Further, in using such a wrapping, it is generally difficult for the user to secure the tie strings with one hand so that assistance is required.
In football, as is well known, the linemen regularly wrap their hands with many turnings of surgical gauze and adhesive tape that is used but once and then discarded so that such wrappings constitute a substantial expense item.
With the above observations in mind, it is one of the important objects of this invention to provide an improved hand wrap for athletes for the protection of their hands, wrists and knuckles that eliminates the disadvantages of hand wraps presently used.
Another object of this invention is to provide a hand wrap as characterized which includes a plurality of thumb and finger engaging loop members arranged to assure that the wrapping will not be displaced from covering the area of the hand it is designed to protect.
A further object of this invention is to provide a hand wrap of the above class that is simple and easy to apply and which can be efficiently applied and secured by the user.
Still another object herein is to provide a hand wrap as described which is economical in manufacture and can be used repeatedly.
The foregoing objects and such further objects as may appear herein, or be hereinafter pointed out, together with the advantages of this invention will be more fully discussed and developed in the more detailed description of the accompanying drawings.